Thursday, March 09, 2006

We won a Wade!

Well, this announcement was made a week ago, which in blogotime is equivalent to 6 months, so I recognize that to the more astute readers here, this is really, really old news. But I just discovered that my blog was awarded a coveted "Wade" award. The award is named after Wade Burleson, whose blogging about the International Missions Board has raised the awareness of the role of the blogosphere in the future of the SBC.

What is a wade, you ask? It is Kevin Bussey's newly created "Southern Baptist Blog Award," which is given each year (if he does it again after this initial effort) to the best blogs in 10 different categories. My blog won for the "Best Drama," specifically for the record-setting post about the SBC presidency that turned into an information-superhighway brawl (338 comments, to date).

Here is the actual press release announcement:

Wow! His post on Johnny Hunt for SBC President brought out Steve Camp, Ergun Caner, and Emir Caner debating Calvanism (sic). The Drama was better than Law and Order!

Since I missed the ceremony and was not able to be there to pick up my trophy or my check (which I assume is in the mail), I thought I would simply blog my acceptance speech.

"I would like to thank the anti-academy for bestowing this prestigious award on my humble blog. Like any award winning effort, this achievement was the result of many, many contributors. While there is no way that I could possibly thank all those who helped me win, I would be remiss if I did not mention at least a few of those to whom I owe so much.

Gene Bridges--when I was too tired, too numb or too ignorant to answer questions in the comments, you often swooped in with perceptive arguments, unassailable logic and a torrent of words that often left me and others keyboardless.

Steve Camp and Frank Turk (Centuri0n)--your public comments on my blog showed the anti-academy that what is happening here has caught the attention of the big dogs.

Fide-o--your participation showed the anti-academy that what is happening here has caught the attention of the bad dogs.

Scott Morgan--your passion made me stop at times and check my pulse to see if I was still alive.

The dozens and dozens of private email correspondents who did not want to comment publicly for various reasons--your private comments often encouraged and sometimes instructed me about the issues behind the issues that were being debated. You also reminded me that there is far more going on than meets the public eye.

To the anonymous Mr. "Charles," who, despite his uh, unwillingness, to come out of the closet, persisted in shooting from the shadows with personal, childish attacks, many of which had to be removed, thereby heightening the intrigue of the dialogue.

To James White, the "Evangelical Anatolian Shepherd"--you weighed in with forceful, measured comments and challenges that helped calm the rhetoric and return the discourse to more foundational issues, including the prospect of a "sure-nuff" debate in the future.

To Ergun and Emir Caner--to have the participation of both the greater and lesser Caners is an honor beyond description. Despite your expectation to be banned, you joined in anyway. And you did so not in any tepid, mealy-mouthed way, but with full force, like firemen arriving at a dying fire with buckets of gasoline, the two of you double-handedly brought renewed heat to what had almost become a lukewarm discussion. It is safe to say that I would not have won this award without you.

Finally, I must not forget to thank my wife and children--they kept me informed of the comment count and provided me with much comic relief during those days when the comments turned white hot.

In closing, I would also like to acknowledge those who have read every word of all 338 comments. Some of you have asked for an award, some for degrees. I can only offer you this piece of advice: you really should get out more!

16 comments:

I'd like to say that I'm just a small fly in the SBC soup, and there are much bigger camels that need straining out.

I'd like to say that, but then everyone would wonder who co-opted my blogger ID. The truth is that the rest of us SBC bloggers owe Pastor Ascol a LOT for his faithfulness and his steady hand in navigating the issue of who we ought to be as a convention. Whatever I might choose to say about me personally, Tom Ascol is a role model we all ought to seek to follow who lives out the call to the faith that Paul made -- "you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you".

The "Wade" is a small potato. The Gospel is the real meal, and you're serving it up, Pastor Ascol.

Excellent speech Tom! I concur with Frank. I think you handled the situation really well, much better than any of us could have. By allowing the post to work itself out, I believe we learned more than we had ever expected.

It's nice to know there is another Burleson in the SBC. The first time I ever learned of Wade Burleson was after seeing his endorsement on the back cover of John Blanchard's book, "Does God Believe in Atheists?" which I had to purchase in seminary. Is Wade a fellow Calvinist?

Thanks Tom for the tip of the hat. Fide-O knows that the academy is fully aware of what the anti-academy and its cohorts are capable of doing. Sometimes we feel like the first string in the fourth quarter of a pre-season game. This is fun, but does it count? Well, somehow I do think it counts. And we just want in the game...to win. May the Lord be pleased, may we be courageous and engaging, and may the Gospel be proclaimed.

You should consider yourself lucky that no one came on and started posting comments about schmeradactyls. Hey, you can go to accept the award late and we can all run up your comment section even more like we did on Pyro!

Wow! A Wade! Someday, I too hope that I can achieve to the level of excellence that you will forever be remembered for because of this prestigious award.

Seriously Dr. Ascol, I truely appreceiate your level headed responses to the critics of the reformed view of the sovereignty of God in salvation. Your Christ-like attitude helps the cause of the people fighting for change in SBC churches where these issues are being debated, as in my own church for example. Thank you, and every other person who has kept their cool when it would have been so much easier not to do so.

..knowing that the B L O G by the bashful, beardless, balding, boy (originally from Beaumont in southeast TEXAS) has made it "big time" and been given a tiny bit of the honor it so veryrightfully deserves.

Being "preachy" now - onlyeternity will reveal all thehelp this most important and much needed ministry BLOG has been to many, many people, some of whom are too timid to send you their comments.